Arroyo in Singapore to boost ties, call for investments

SINGAPORE (via PLDT) - President Arroyo arrived here last night for a two-day investment promotion campaign that will involve meeting with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and with foreign business leaders.

Mrs. Arroyo arrived at Changi International Airport at 9 p.m. from Hanoi, Vietnam along with her lean official delegation of Cabinet officials and female lawmakers.

Mrs. Arroyo was in Hanoi for the 14th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Summit.

The President’s retinue in Singapore included Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, Trade Secretary Peter Favila, and Press Undersecretary Jose Capadocia.

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves and Tourism Secretary Ace Durano will later join the presidential party. She will stay at the Shangri-La Hotel.

Mrs. Arroyo is scheduled to have a series of meetings today with presidents and chief executive officers of multinational firms, including Temasek Holdings, SingTel Group, Singapore Technologies Telemedia, Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts, and YTL Corp. Berhad.

She is also scheduled to have separate interviews with CNBC and BusinessWeek.

Mrs. Arroyo will have a dinner meeting with Prime Minister Lee tonight but details of the discussion have not been released yet.

Before departing for Singapore, Mrs. Arroyo and daughter Evangeline "Luli’’ Arroyo attended Mass at the Archbishop’s House in Hanoi after which she proceeded to the National Convention Center (NCC) to participate in the APEC Leaders’ Retreat II at 10 a.m. before a luncheon gathering.

The APEC leaders posed for a group photo at the West Entrance of the NCC at 2 p.m. This was followed by the reading of the Leaders’ Declaration.

While in Hanoi, Mrs. Arroyo also attended the meeting between US President George W. Bush and APEC heads of states from Southeast Asia.

She also managed to have "pull-aside" meetings with Mr. Bush and other heads of state.

In her meeting with Mr. Bush, Mrs. Arroyo called for greater US involvement in the peace process and in the development of Mindanao and the country as a whole. She also sought greater US role in Asean’s fight against terrorism.

Bunye said the President "handled the diplomatic circuit with ease, as she engaged other world leaders."

"No wonder she has been consistently described as one of the most powerful women in the world," he said.

"Despite some unresolved issues on trade, the APEC meetings, to our mind, were a success," he said.

He said every time world leaders come together to discuss international and regional problems, "it is positive" for the country.

He said the world is increasingly becoming smaller and "a development in one corner of the globe will, one way or the other, impact elsewhere."

"The world is changing and at no time has the need for greater economic and security cooperation been more important than now," Bunye said.

Fora like APEC and Asean, which the Philippines will be hosting in a few weeks, will continue to contribute greatly to peace, security and economic cooperation, according to Bunye.

"Apec and Asean are good for the Philippines and good for Asia and the world,’’ he said.